Mark Kristofic | The Boom of Winter Sports in China

Topics Discussed and Key Points:

● Factors that developed Mark’s interest in doing business with China

● Building relationships with Xinhua News Agency and Tencent

● The demographics of the ski industry in China and why locals prefer to ski abroad

● Promoting the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and local winter sports in general

● Ski locations in China

● The economic drivers behind the development of ski hills

● Why many resorts in China have not been able to develop year-round destinations

● What about ski TV appeals to Chinese audiences

● The difference between programming for a Chinese audience and a Canadian audience

● Emerging winter sports in China

● What the future holds for ski TV in China

Episode Summary:

Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Mark Kristofic, Managing Partner at S-Media, a television, print and digital production company that provides advertising, marketing, and production in Canada and China. S-Media also owns Snowsports Media, which includes a ski travel show featuring different destinations around the world. Mark is also partnered with the nonprofit events management company, World Snowsports Events Group.

Because skiing worldwide had been relatively flat in terms of growth, Mark identified China as an emerging sports market. His interest in expanding into the market only grew with the announcement of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where sports would be a state-sponsored initiative.

In October 2017, S-Media began talks with Xinhua News Agency. They had their first meeting in Beijing that December and, only a month later in January 2018, began filming around China, their partnership official.

Asked how S-Media was able to build a relationship with Xinhua, Mark says that there were two keys to their success. For one, “they actually wanted the Western validation of the ski industry.” Secondly, they focused their messaging on the two elements that Xinhua wanted to highlight: regional culture (depending on where they were filming) and how the development of snow sports in China led toward their goal of hosting a successful Olympics.

S-Media has since partnered with Tencent as well. Mark explains how his company, working alongside Xinhua and Tencent, programs for a Chinese audience compared to a Canadian one. He also goes on to speak on winter sports in China in general, and how the upcoming Olympics is contributing to the industry’s growth around the country.

Key Quotes:

“Once we had that formula where we knew we needed to talk about the ski area, their preparedness for the Olympics, and the culture, then it became quite simple to produce the product [for Xinhua].”

“The content that we built for Xinhua was really information-driven and coming from the mouth of the government. We did have a massive number of views, but whether that was appealing to the audience or not, we don’t really know.”

“What really resonates with the Chinese viewers from an entertainment standpoint is having influencers and celebrities involved.”